Delayed Viewing Plumps Up ‘Mad Men’ Audience

Fans of “Mad Men” alarmed by the surprising ratings falloff for this season’s premiere may take some comfort in the first results of delayed viewing for the episode.

AMC reported on Friday that three days of recorded viewing indicated that the show added close to 75 percent more viewers in some categories, an usually big total, which may indicate more viewers are taking their time watching “Mad Men” — not that they are rejecting it.

The audience for the show, which had been down more than 30 percent from last year’s premiere, is now down only about 15 percent from last year’s premiere after three days of delayed viewing.

Specifically, the total audience climbed to 3.7 million viewers from about 2.3 million — an increase of 62 percent. In terms of audience in the advertiser-preferred group of viewers between the ages of 18 and 49, “Mad Men” showed a 74 percent increase to 1.8 million viewers.